Translation, please: Hindu Nationalist Edition
January 9, 2021 5:47 AM Subscribe
Speakers of Hindi (I think?): what's going on in this video of a disruption at a stand-up comedy performance in Madhya Pradesh, India?
Trying to piece together different reports surrounding this performance. Apparently comedian Munawar Faruqui was confronted by members of the audience accusing him of denigrating Hinduism, physically assaulted, turned over to the police, and is now being charged with a crime. This video appears to start after one audience member has interrupted the performance, but before any assault or arrest. What's the gist of the conversation between the people in this video? What are people in the audience yelling out?
Trying to piece together different reports surrounding this performance. Apparently comedian Munawar Faruqui was confronted by members of the audience accusing him of denigrating Hinduism, physically assaulted, turned over to the police, and is now being charged with a crime. This video appears to start after one audience member has interrupted the performance, but before any assault or arrest. What's the gist of the conversation between the people in this video? What are people in the audience yelling out?
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First 20+ seconds or so: The comic is saying he doesn't only make jokes about hinduism, that his sets always include jokes about Islam/Muslims. He says every set includes a 3-minute bit about 'talaq' (which means divorce in Arabic/Urdu, generally understood as divorce according to Islamic law.)
After this there is too much crosstalk for me to figure out what's going on. The person taking the video is the most prominent voice saying 'Let him speak,' and 'Let him finish.' At one point the comic can be heard clearly saying, in a conciliatory sort of tone with his hand on the other man's shoulder, "...afterwards if you are still not satisfied..."
0:53 - 0:56: The man on stage standing beside the comic says something like, "This is hardly how it's done, what is this language brother?"
0:57-1:30: Comic is saying he regrets saying what he said (presumably earlier?) because for eight days afterwards, his mother and sister got rape threats and death threats, and for eight days he wasn't able to step outside his home. His phone number was leaked, people online were calling for his arrest, and he couldn't understand what was happening.
1:30-2:10: Comic says 8 days after the original incident he uploaded a picture with poetry on it. Then ten days later he uploaded a video in which he said, "I am a comic, my job is to make people laugh. I do not wish to hurt anyone's feelings or offend anyone's religion, and I am sorry if my words have caused such hurt. That is not part of my job." Comic says he's clarifying this because the other man on stage (? or perhaps a general "they") apparently claimed he has never apologized.
2:10-2:45: Comic says after this one of his shows in Jaipur was cancelled either by the Congress Party or some other political party. The comic says he traveled 2500km he suffers losses, and the economy of Jaipur also suffers losses when shows are cancelled, but NBD, his producer ate the cost. Then the comic uploaded a sarcastic video saying "These politicians cancelled my show because I had more seats [i.e. tickets sold] than they do [in parliament]." Obviously this was a joke. The crowd seems to agree.
2:45-3:00 : The comic says his home was burned in (I can't make out the town) back in 2002 during the Godhra religious riots. The crowd cheers (?!?!?! seemingly in support of the comic?!?! wtf). Now the comic wants to tell his joke to the gentleman on stage so he can judge for himself whether the joke was all that bad.
3:00-4:00: Dude on stage is saying, "Thanks for apologizing. It's great that you apologized. I don't care if your words don't make a difference to anyone else in this crowd but they make a difference to me. You can't go around saying such dirty things..." At this point the comic takes back the mic, calms the crowd a bit, and goes back to explain to the dude that everyone's level of tolerance is different; the comic doesn't care if people throw stones at him but he feels quite differently when people throw stones at his sister.
4:00-4:40: Too much crosstalk in the beginning, though at one point the dude on stage can be heard saying "I am not here to quarrel..." The comic responds, "Sir, you are speaking to me with respect. On the internet these days people begin with 'Your mother...'" Dude on stage says, "I don't care about folks on the internet, I'm here to object..."
4:40-5:00: Someone in the crowd says, "Sir, you are speaking respectfully on stage but your people in the back are hurling curse words at us." There is crosstalk. Someone accuses someone else of mocking someone (same someone?? idk). Dude on stage says, sarcastically, "Yeah right I'm mocking someone." More crosstalk.
5:00-5:30: Lots of crosstalk in the beginning. Dude on stage says to the crowd, "Whatever you do, we must tolerate it? Is what you're doing okay? You all use the excuse of freedom of expression or freedom of speech, and that's fine. I didn't like what you said and when I object, that's wrong?"
5:30 - 6:00: Comic tries to tell dude again to please take a seat and he can judge for himself whether the show is all that offensive. Someone in the crowd says "Let Munawar Bhai (brother) handle it, it will take him two minutes to talk to this man, the show will go on." (To me it seems as if someone from the back, perhaps a bouncer or security or even just random people, might have been suggesting they should remove the dude on stage from the premises. But the comic has so far repeatedly asked them to hold off, he can handle it.) There is some crosstalk and then the comic can be heard saying, "Sir I think my show will make you laugh, You can see for yourself." There's a lot more people on stage as he says this.
6:00-6:40: A lady offscreen can be heard saying, "Hindus and Muslims are brothers." (It's a Gandhiian slogan.) Crowd cheers. Mic is taken away from comic. People are clapping. Original dude who is now offscreen/unlit, who has been given the mic, is heard saying, "But this expectation of brotherhood is always thrust on us/our people."
6:40-7:00: Noise and crosstalk.
7:00-8:44: Comic makes a small icebreaker joke which I could not hear properly. He says "The last time I saw this size crowd was in Delhi." And then a punchline that I didn't catch. He sits down drinking water. People in the crowd are talking, a couple of clear voices are saying things like "Absolutely!" and "Why not?" in a triumphant tone. The comic comes back on stage to say "There will be no political jokes tonight, if anyone wants a refund please contact us as [joke email address] and we will forward your refund amount to the the Prime Minister's [coronavirus] fund." Then he goes into another political joke in english after introducing himself, something about "I survived because the government is not good at meeting its targets."
posted by MiraK at 9:25 AM on January 9, 2021 [7 favorites]